David - Learning to Love God with All Our Heart

There are 3 men in he Bible (besides Jesus) that really stand out for me: Joseph, David, and Paul.  I guess I see so much Christ-likeness in these men.  Joseph was almost perfect!  Paul, after his encounter with the Lord became pretty close to being perfect and teaches us how to live for Christ. David simply lived to glorify God and you can see how he loved God with all his heart, soul and mind.  I must admit I am forgetting, at this point, the sins that David committed.  But once he was convicted and after confessing his sin, God continues to love David and forgives him of his sin, as He does for us. Amazing how God can forgive and forget!  Paul says he was the worst of sinners, yet God also forgives him.  There really is room at the cross for all of us.  Thank you Lord for your so great salvation!  How I praise and worship You, O Lord!

It's easy to praise the Lord for what He has done for us ... isn't it?  How great Thou Art, O Lord God Almighty!  You, O Lord, are my Rock, my Fortress, my Strength. Without You I can do nothing.  With You, nothing is impossible.  Thank You Lord. Have your way in my life, I pray. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, that I might serve You and live for You and glorify your name. Hallelujah Lord Jesus!  We certainly can learn how to praise and worship and cry out to the Lord from the Psalms that David wrote for us.

David is an example for all of us on how to:
Praise the Lord, Pray to the Lord, Glorify the Lord, Receive our strength from the Lord, Wait on the Lord, Rest in the Lord, Trust in the Lord, Minister to the Lord, Sing to the Lord, Dance unto the Lord, Serve the Lord, Be friends with the Lord, Fight for the Lord, Cry out to the Lord, Fear the Lord, Bless the Lord, Thank the Lord, Honor the Lord and His anointed, and the list goes on!

You can see why David is considered a man after God's own heart.  (Almost) everything he did, say, and think about was done for Lord and to glorify the Lord.

That's a life well lived.  He was a forgiven sinner who lived for God, desired to do His will, rejoicing in the Lord, praising Him, giving Him thanks and talking to Him in prayer regularly (if not always).  I sense from reading Paul's epistles, Paul also learned much from David's life and character just as we can.

Let's all have hearts that are bent towards God and that are becoming like God's heart, full of love for others!

Saul - A Carnal King

There is something about Saul I don't really like.  Actually there is much about King Saul I don't like.  I hope I am not being carnal by saying that!  I know for sure I never want to be Saul-like!  Now if we were talking about Saul in the New Testament whose name was changed to Paul ... he is someone that I am confident we would all like to imitate ... Paul even encourages us to do that.  I think we can all agree that he is a good example of Christ-likeness!

 
But as far as King Saul is concerned, there is nothing in his character that I would want any of us as shepherd-leaders to become like.  If you see something I am not seeing, please let me know!

Sure he was tall (very tall), dark and handsome!  But who cares about these physical characteristics.  What kind of man was he on the inside?  God gave him his Spirit and empowered him to perform the role of king and even allowed him to rule as the first man-king of Israel for 40 years but he sure messed up ... by not walking and being led by the spirit and at least waiting for Samuel to seek direction from the Lord and obeying what he was told to do by God.  I can see how easy it would be for Saul to fall into this trap.  We need to learn from King Saul's mistakes.

Last week we looked at the story of Ruth and Boaz and when we examine their character, we couldn't find anything that we didn't like about these two.  They lived what we would call a Christ-like life and we hope that their character qualities will show up in all our lives as we are transformed into His likeness by the Word and His Holy Spirit.

We need to learn to be filled by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit as Paul instructs us and not do the works of the flesh which are sins of our old nature.  Let's look briefly at some of the the characteristics of King Saul who I consider to be quite carnal (operating in the flesh), even though he had God's spirit at least for a while.  Unfortunately, as believers and followers of Christ we can slip and become carnal if we are not careful. Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 3 and Galatians 5 and a few other places.

Here are a few negative Saul-like character qualities that stood out for me as I read King Saul's story. He seemed very insecure right from the beginning.  He wasn't strong and courageous.  He was foolish and disobedient and impulsive or impetuous and impatient (just couldn't wait!),... etc.  He consequently did things his way rather than God's way which got him into trouble and in my opinion tarnished his character. We know as we read the rest of his story that he becomes very jealous of David, angry and even bitter to the extent that he tried to murder David several times.

I am surprised at how well King Saul's son, Jonathan turns out, considering he was such a bad example for his kids to follow.  Jonathan was very much the opposite of his dad and became a true, faithful friend to David.  You can definitely learn some great things when you examine Jonathan's character more closely.    

I am sorry to have to say (again) that Saul is obviously, to me, someone I hope none of us become like regardless of our role and position in life!

Ruth - Much to Glean

After reading the book of Ruth which is a relatively short story, I wondered what "gleanings" could I get that would help us become better shepherds.  As we do our studies in The Story, I am looking for character qualities, attitudes and principles for living that can help us all to become more like Jesus.  As we seek to become like Him, I believe others notice and see the fruit of the spirit being lived out in our lives.

If you read the story of Ruth quickly and don't stop to think about it you may not "glean" too much.  In fact if you read any part of the Word quickly and don't take time to meditate on it, you don't get much out of the Word and have probably wasted your time. Here are a few Ruth-like characteristics that are very Christ-like.

Commitment: Ruth was committed to staying with and helping her mother-in-law, Naomi and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob even though she was a foreigner originally from another land (Moab), where she grew up worshiping other gods. She didn't have to stay with Naomi.  She could have returned to live in the land of Moab and probably remarried there but she loved Naomi and loved her new life under her new true God.

Faith of a Child: Following Naomi, not knowing where they would live, how they would feed themselves and survive and not knowing what would happen to them, living with tremendous uncertainty ... took faith. Following Jesus into the unknown and doing things that are new also requires this same kind of faith.  We need to trust Him that He will care for us and direct our steps.

Teachable and obedient:  Ruth didn't know the customs and culture of the land she was going to ... but Naomi did and she was able to instruct Ruth....which field to glean in, what to do, how to act, how to dress, etc. Ruth listened to he mother-in-law and did what she said and the Lord worked things out so that Boaz falls in love with her and becomes Ruth and Naomi's kinsmen redeemer, Ruth's husband, and eventually great-great grandparents to David from whose lineage, 28 generations later, Jesus is born.  God sees the BIG picture and knows how we all fit into it.  You never know how God is going to use your life but God does and He has a great plan indeed as we trust and obey and remain teachable and willing to trust Him..

A good reputation:  Ruth's reputation proceeded her.  Word gets around!  Boaz was able to find out who Ruth was and learn about how she was caring for Naomi and that she was a "woman of excellence". Wow! I am sure we would all love to be known as a man or woman of excellence when someone inquires about us.

Others are watching and taking notice of what kind of person we are. They see our smile, our good deeds, our tears of compassion, our love for one another and hear our words of encouragement. They see our gifts and our potential. Opinions are formed and we develop a reputation.  Unfortunately, people also see some stuff that is rooted in our old carnal nature (un-Christ-like qualities) which Paul encourages us to put aside or put off (see Colossians 3:8,9).  We need to clothe ourselves in Christ-like qualities. (see Colossians 3:12-17) and remain in Him and learn to walk in the Spirit.

Thank goodness we can all get back on track when we mess up and confess our sins because we too have a kinsmen-redeemer who loves us and cares for us and paid the ultimate price for all our sins so that we can become part of his church and his bride.

Take time to read Ruth again slowly and pick out some other qualities that you see in Boaz's, Ruth's and Naomi's life that are worth imitating.

Caution! There is something in Naomi's life that was exhibited for a while that we don't want to copy.  She wanted to be called Mara because she was bitter over her circumstances ... but she didn't remain there!.  Don't be known for being a bitter person as it leads to a host of problems and it is easily noticeable..